Cuff guard and form protector



April 14, 1942. R. A. DILLON CUFF GUARD AND FORM PROTECTOR I Filed NOV. 13, 1940 AH AH Patented Apr. 14, 1942 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE CUFF GUARD AND FORM PROTECTOR Robert A. Dillon, Los Angeles, cam.

Application November 13, 1940, Serial No. 365,479

5 Claims.

I designate my invention as a guard and form protector for cuffs as it is designed to be inserted within the cuffs of sleeves or the cuffs or lower end of the trousers to maintain these in desirable shape for being worn, the form protector has an angular edge which conforms to the usual crease made by pressing the trousers or the sleeve and thus maintains this crease. An object and feature of my invention is a guard or form protector having front and rear angular elements or parts each formed of thin sheet material and adapted to be inserted inside of the lower end of the trousers or a sleeve adjacent the cuff, the sheet material having sufficient stiffness to somewhat round out the lower portion of the trousers or cufi of the sleeve and thus present a neat appearance. The device by having an angle or fold which aligns with the front and back creases of the trousers or sleeve thus maintains these creases reducing the necessity of frequent pressing. Further, the interior protector operates as a guard and resists the wear usu'ally coming on the fabric, such wear being caused by the shoes as to the trousers or the wrist in regard to a sleeve.

A further feature of my invention relates to making the guard or form protector removable and readily replaceable by providing a series of perforations each of which has an adhesive therein, the adhesive being adapted on pressure against the fabric of the trousers or sleeve to retain the protector in place. Such protector however may be readily removed by disengaging the adhesive from the fabric, this adhesive being of the type which does not mar the fabric and still remains in the perforation.

A further characteristic and use of the device of my invention is in retaining not only garments of a tubular type such as sleeves and trousers to the desired shape but by using part of the device it may be applied as a stiffening for other parts of the garments and be readily attached and detached. This latter characteristic is readily developed by providing the sheet material stiffener with the series of perforations having the adhesive fastener or button.

' The device for use as a guard or form protector may be made of sheet material stiffer and more resilient than the fabric of the garment using such material as non-inflammable Celluloid, Pyralin, Pliofilm or various other sheet plastics which may be either colorless or tinted. My invention may also employ a stifiened type of fabric which will have the desired resiliency. If thedevice is to be left permanently in the garment when this is being cleaned and pressed of course the material shouldbe such that the usual cleaning solvents Will. not destroy the sheet material or the adhesive. As it is much less expensive to make the device with the structure readily removable, the wearer of the garment does not have to consider what solvents are used in any cleaning.

For a sleeve and trouser. leg guard and protector I find it of advantage to have the front and back portions of a tubular guard made some: what triangular shaped when flattened so that these may be folded on a line between the apex and the mid section of the base. A triangular device of this nature may be used as a single guard attached by adhesive. howeverthe tubular design not only maintains the pressed crease. in the garment but rounds out the sleeve or trouser leg thus in warm weather allows more freer circulation of the air around the arm or leg. In addition the guard having wear resisting char.- acteristics saves the fabric of the garmentfrom the usual wear and from becoming soiled which is especially the case of trouser legs from the shoe 4 polish.

My invention is illustrated-in connection with the accompanying drawing, inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one type of my in vention illustrated as fitted in atrouser leg, the latter being shown in a vertical longitudinal section.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation ofthe device of Fig. 1 taken in the direction of the arrow l of Fig. 2 omitting the fabric of the trousers and illustrating the device in a widely spread position.

Fig. 3 is a detail section of Fig. 1 on the line 3-3 showing an adhesive button or attaching device to engage the fabric of the garment.

Fig. 4 is an elevation of acoat-sleeve broken away showing my invention fitted therein; this being modified from the construction of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4 in the direction of the arrows illustratingthel device as retaining the crease of the sleeve.

Fig. 6 is an elevation of one end .of the device either of Figs. 1 or 4 showing the pressure sensitive and attaching device on the triangular-body of the shaping guard. v N

Fig. 7 is a modification of the construction of Fig. 3 illustrating an inside. fabric covering.

Referring first to the construction ofFig s. 1 and 2, the guard and form protector designated. by the assembly numeral 'II has :a front somewhat triangular shaped shaping guard" l 2, which may be considered as having a base l3,tWo'con-.

verging sides l4 leading to the narrow or apex portion I5. From this portion there is a narrow tongue l6, then a rectangular shaped enlargement l1 arranged diagonally and a terminating finger I8. The construction is adapted to have a fold or angular corner on the dotted line I9. There are a series of perforations 20 in the guard structure l2 and also in the rectangular enlargement I! for the adhesive buttons hereunder described. The tip of the finger I8 is bent inward slightlyas indicated at 2|, Fig. 1, and the center portion at the bottom indicated at 22 is slightly flared outwardly.

The rear guard 25 is of similar somewhat triangular shape as the guard l2 but has no tongue or finger extending upwardly but terminates at the apex 26 of the tapering side edges 21. This apex is fiared inwardly as indicated at 28. There are also a series of perforations in the rear guard.

These two guards are connected by similar side straps 30 which may be formed integral with the front and rear guards and as the. device is made of thin sheet" material, it may be cut or stamped out of relatively large sheets forming the two straps 30. on each side, one of which would then be connected either to the front or rear guard however if desired the straps 30 may be made separate from the guards and attached thereto to produce the different sizes required.

The adhesive button attachment device is illustrated in Fig. 3 designated by the assembly numeral 4!! in which a thin strip of sheet material 41 is attached to the inside of either the front or rear guards at one of the openings 28 by marginal adhesive 42 the opening 20 is filled with an adhesive 43 which may be of a non-drying pressure sensitive adhesive. The trouser leg is indicated by the numeral 50 having the usual fabric structurev and with a cuff 52 adjacent the lower portion. The guard is fitted in the trouser so that the angles or edges indicated by the dotted line l9 which is in both the front and the rear guards will align with the pressed crease of the trousers. The device is preferably inserted to have the bottom edge slightly above the lower edge of the trousers or the cuffs thereof, the relative height being as desired by the wearer of the garment. The pressure. sensitive adhesive 43 filling the openings 20 is. then pressed against the fabric of the garment which may be done by pressing the trousers using heat if desired or by the mere pressure of the fingers. This adhesive has sufficient adherence to the fabric of the trousers to attach the guard and to hold this in place but yet allows the guard to be readily removed and this type of adhesive does not injure, mar or in fact leave any mark on the fabric of the arment. The guard has sufficient inherent stiffness in the sheet material to retain the crease front and back in the trousers and to spread sufficiently so that the trousers have a comfortable fit around the ankle and the. legs of. the wearer of the garment.

Fig. 7 shows a modification of the adhesive button of Fig.3 in that a. fabric lining 55 is attached to the sheet material form by adhesive 56. I The button adhesive 43 is thus coated on the inside of the fabric but such fabric which may be of uniform color and match the garment causes the device to be less conspicuous when being worn however the structure may readily be inserted and removed as the pressure sensitive adhesive button 43 may be pulled from the fabric of the garment and still leave the fabric lining and the sheet material guard attached together.

. ring the fabric of the. garment.

The construction of Fig. 4 illustrates the guard 60 suitable for a sleeve indicated at 6| to fit in the cuff. In this case both of the guard elements 62 are approximately triangular in shape and of the same size and provided with an angular edge or fold 63 in the line between the mid position of the base and the apex. This apex is slightly curled inwardly as indicated at 64 and the base at the fold line may be bent outwardly as indicated at 65. These two portions are connected by side straps 65. There are a series of perforations 6'1 having the adhesive button structures 68. These are fitted so that the fold of the reinforcement sheet structures lines up with the crease 69 of the sleeve.

The construction of Fig. 6 shows another form of guard 15, the main body being triangular in shape having a base 16, two similar sides 11 and an apex 18. This may be folded on a line between the apex and the mid section of the base. Extending from the base there may be two straps or Wings 8!]. This arrangement may be used to form a single guard or two of these with the straps secured together make the double guards. In the illustration the main triangular portion is coated with an adhesive 8| which may be of the pressure sensitive nondrying type allowing it to be attached to the inside of the garment and to be readily removed without mar- A construction of this nature may be used in circumstances where the person. does not desire to use the front and rear guards by using only one of the guards, for instance either at the front portion of the. cuff or the front or rear portion of the trouser leg; This construction might also have the perforations and the plastic buttons. Where these buttons are used however after repeated removals and again attachments to the garment, the adhesive loses a certain amount of its attaching power and therefore it is desirable to replace with new adhesive buttons which may readily be done in the construction for instance of Fig. 3 by loosening the adhesive 42 and removing the sheet strip then replacing by a. new strip. This may also be done with the fabric lining 5i).

Various changes may be made in the details of the construction without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a device as described, a sheet material reinforcement element for a fabric tubular structure having a series of. perforations with adhesive buttons fitted in the perforations, such buttons being adapted to engage the inside of the fabric structure and attach the reinforcement element thereto.

2. In a device as described for attachment to fabric, a sheet material reinforcement element substantially triangular in shape having a fold line between the mid section of the base and the apex, there being a series of perforations with adhesive buttons fitted therein to engage the fabric.

3. In a device as described for attachment to fabric, a sheet material reinforcement element substantially triangular in shape having a fold line between the mid section of the base and the apex, there being a series of perforations with adhesive buttons fitted therein to engage the fabric, a tongue extending upwardly from the apex and terminating in a finger with means to attach the tongue and. finger to the fabric.

5. A guard and form for cuffs of fabric trousers or sleeves comprising an angularly bent section of sheet material adapted to be positioned within the cuif, said section having perforations therein, a normally tacky adhesive filling the perforations so as to be exposed on one side of said section, and a covering over the adhesive on the opposite side of said section.

ROBERT A. DILLON. 

